In 1990 Arthur Rosenthal, retired director of the Harvard University Press, was appointed our new publisher. (I had stepped down a couple of years before.) He suggested a luncheon meeting that included Eric Foner (our history adviser); Sara Bershtel, a top-notch editor; and me. After a good drink and some lunch, Rosenthal proposed an idea that was immediately and enthusiastically accepted: to develop a new series of 150-page history books that would deal with critical issues. The next day Eric Foner and I went to work. Eric and I agreed that we should publish a fresh, short book on the war in Vietnam, and Eric suggested that we ask Michael Hunt of the University of North Carolina to write it. I called Hunt in Chapel Hill, reached him, and described our idea. We discussed it, and he said he would consider the book and think about its scope and organization. Agreement on essential matters came quickly. Michael Hunt’s book would be Lyndon Johnson’s War: Crusade in Vietnam, 1945–1968 (Hill and Wang, 1996). It was among the first of our Critical Issues series, and it has been very successful.